No surprises as Scolari names Brazil's World Cup squad

Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari announced his World Cup squad on Wednesday without any major surprises, choosing most of the players who won last year's Confederations Cup.

Scolari's 23-name list includes 16 players who were in the team that won last year's warm-up tournament by beating world champion Spain in the final.

The team will mix talented young stars such as Neymar and Oscar with more experienced players such as Dani Alves, David Luiz, Thiago Silva and Hulk.

Past stars such as Ronaldinho, Kaka and Robinho were left off the squad as expected.

The squad announcement was a high-profile event in Brazil, with television stations juggling their programming to broadcast it live.

More than 700 journalists, many from abroad, were accredited for the event at a traditional concert house in Rio de Janeiro.

Kaka and Robinho - the stars in the 2010 World Cup - still had hopes of playing in the tournament at home but were left off the list, as were former AC Milan forward Alexandre Pato and 34-year-old Ronaldinho, a 2002 world champion.

Only five players from this year's list were in the 2010 tournament - Julio Cesar, Silva, Alves, Maicon and Ramires. Fred didn't make it to South Africa but was in the squad for the 2006 tournament in Germany.

He said there were only two spots remaining in the team, with the doubts related to the third goalkeeper and the fourth central defender, positions that were filled by Atletico Mineiro goalkeeper Victor and Napoli defender Henrique.

Seven alternates will be announced in the coming days.

Brazil's starting 11 in the World Cup will likely be the same that played in the Confederations Cup. Brazil is in Group A with Croatia, Mexico and Cameroon. It will open against Croatia on June 12 in Sao Paulo.